They don't list AMD cores in the first link that I happened to choose on Google, but here (http://kyokojap.myweb.hinet.net/gpu_gflops/):

Previous gen consoles:
PS3: 228.8 GFlops
XBox360: 240 GFlops

Current Intel integrated GFX: (Broadwell-U GT3): "Up to 844.8" GFlops
Assuming this AMD part is faster than the Intel graphics, and we're at 3X your required performance level, at least. Even if you assume worst case, thermal limited, etc., current integrated graphics is at least as good as last gen consoles.

And the Adreno 430 in the Snapdragon 810 is listed at 324~388, which means you can just use your cell phone.

I have one of these that I use as my media server... headless Plex back end, general home storage and home automation web server, etc. Runs CentOS 6 beautifully (Gigabit wired connection, so don't care about lack of wireless drivers). Using a 256GB M.2 SSD as the local storage, with a few multi-TB USB3 drives for the media storage.

The nice things is that the CPU is that it's beefy enough to do transcode of several shows at the same time as my wife, myself, and kids all watch different shows on Rokus, iPads, and other computers via Plex. At the same time it can pull OTA recorded shows from my Tablo, do a transcode, put them in the media storage, and serve them back out without a hiccup. Try that with an Atom or an ARM.

Rather than that one, long, randomly generated password that then gets used on every site (or few passwords over many sites), I use a standard password, and modify it for each site. For instance, my slashdot pass might be horsebattery!SLASHDOT!staple, while my bank might be horsebattery!CHASE!staple. Easy to remember, and stealing the password from one site won't help on another.

(Yes, a person looking at the data might be able to figure it out, but I figure that unless I'm personally being targeted that would be very very unlikely. And, in reality, I have both different logins and base passwords that I use on high vs low security sites, so stealing my slahsdot user/pass would not work on my bank, or credit cards, or at work.)

> People who want Macs are only in the Mac market, and will have zero interest in a NUC

My Hackintosh would disagree. NUCs make great iMacs... just velcro them to the back of a display of your choice. Combined with a nice VISA mount, provides a very clean setup with acceptable performance, for 1/4 the cost of 'real' Apple hardware.

CSB: In the [very large] company I work for, there are two very different groups of programmers. There are the programmers that are EEs, working on products that happen to contain software components, and there are CS programmers. The thought process difference between them is, in general, quite stark.

The EE-background SW folks look at the SW task, spend (an often unreasonable amount of) upfront time to study the project, map it out, and then provide a schedule that pretty much matches what the reality ends up being, and get the product (of which SW is a component) out the door on time. And the code they write is crappy, unmaintainable, crap that does exactly what it's supposed to, no more, no less, and they are famous for rejecting any RCR that will break schedule. Engineering management loves them.

The CS-background folks (who cluster in a different group) will provide a poorly though out schedule quickly, and then immediately start missing deadlines. The code they write will be exquisite, maintainable, and it will have every feature and new hotness that anyone comes up with. Sales and marketing loves them, because they can sell whatever they want and promise anything to the customer, but it often misses the market window.

Moral: "Engineering SW" and "CS" mindsets are, in my company, quite different. Just because a CS-type tells you they can't provide a schedule, or the schedule is bunk, doesn't mean it's not possible to provide a schedule for a SW project. You're probably just asking the wrong kind of person. That may be OK, or not, depending on what you're building and what your project is.

Engineering is applying what you know to solve a specific problem to get a product out the door on a known schedule, and a known cost, and known quality. If you want to be "creative", perhaps engineering is not for you. There is a real, important difference.

Wow, a Slashdot video that I actually found useful, interesting, relevant to the site, and not a slashvertisement. A very pleasant surprise, and thanks to Yasir for his time and insight.

Timothy, though... c'mon, man... pay a few bucks for a backdrop and a reasonable microphone and step up the game a little, rather than looking like a teenager hiding from your parents in your bedroom... even a few bucks for a laptop stand or a cheap video camera so we don't get the camera-is-sitting-on-my-desk-nasal-shot. Some reasonable lighting, etc., is step two. It's not hard.

But there are systems available that don't bundle Windows... Macs, Chromebooks, and others. Yet despite that the Italian courts still said that someone who chose to buy a system that bundled Windows was eligible for a refund.

So, by that logic, just because there are desktops doesn't mean that I shouldn't get a refund for my unused keyboard/display.

I hate the keyboards that come with laptops. I have a perfectly good USB keyboard that I always use. Why do manufactures insist on bundligna crappy chicklet keyboard on the hardware? I want a refund for the keyboard, since I never use it.

My laptop is also plugged into an external monitor (the 11" display is useless), so why am I forced to pay for a display?

Why should the "I don't like part of what I'm buying so I want my money back" argument be limited to software?

At ~1pW/cm^2, a 50x50cm verision of this will provide about 30mWh in 12 hours. Tiny cell phone battery. Heck, a tiny lithium coin cell will provide ~150mWh.

For contrast, a typical solar cell will give 130W/m^2 (-ish), so a 0.25m^2 solar cell will provide ~33W, while the sun shines, obviously.

I'm not sure where exactly on Earth is sufficiently "remote", dark, moist, and unreachable that this makes sense. (Yes, I though of that, but it's really uncomfortable to fit a camping cooler there...)

While the libertarian in me agrees with you, the realist in me sees some problems with the argument. The problem with letting those who made the choices pay the piper is that usually, I (taxpayer me) still end up paying, and usually much much more, in the long run. The person who had kids who couldn't afford them usually cannot care well for them, which tends to lead to disadvantaged kids with no/minimal education, which leads to higher crime, more poverty, and a higher burden in the future.

The libertarian in me despises the idea of nationalizing most of health care, but I'll end up paying more if everyone without a job goes to the emergency room and I pay (much) more because of it.

If we can't find a way to help people afford houses, then they lose the houses, and I end up paying more property taxes to support the streets, water, and other things I like to have. And then we get Detroit.

In the end, I've decided that the "best thing for me" is to help other people screw me less... which means figuring out how to help them help themselves, not leaving them until they're a burden. I disagree with many of the tactics we use to achieve it, but leaving everyone who made a bad choice to flounder in the sewer costs me more in the long run.